There is something remarkably alluring about the ancient Maya art. Perhaps it's the originality and depth of the art enveloped in esoteric elements thThere is something remarkably alluring about the ancient Maya art. Perhaps it's the originality and depth of the art enveloped in esoteric elements that effortlessly captivates and keeps one's attention.
However Ancient Maya: The Rise and Fall of a Rainforest civilization by Arthur Demarest is a case study that covers much more than the Maya art. Its primary focus is chronologically presenting the cultural evolution of the Maya based on archeological and historical data, while interpreting the Maya society through their art, iconography, hieroglyphic inscriptions, architecture, and their sophisticated calendar system.
Unlike the numerous civilizations that emerged in the ancient world, the Maya stand out as they appeared, developed, and remained in the rain forest, thus, can be considered a rainforest civilization.
As for the narrative, it was dry and the book lacked a clear central argument or narrative thread to make the book more readable. A very mechanical composition and erudite work so beware.
Nevertheless, it was great learning about this Mesoamerican culture and its cyclical concept of time, their cosmogram with 13 levels of the heavens and 9 of the underworld, and their version of the Creation's beginnings which started on August 13th, 3114 BCE (by the Gregorian calendar), their ideology, worldview, and untimely the reason(s) for the ancient Maya downfall that still remains debatable....more
Even though the Two Treatises of Government was published anonymously in the year 1689, the Editor of this book's edition, Peter Laslett, argues that Even though the Two Treatises of Government was published anonymously in the year 1689, the Editor of this book's edition, Peter Laslett, argues that the two Treatises were written between the years of 1679-1683, well before the publishing and The Glorious Revolution of 1688-89. Furthermore, Laslett claims that the Second Treatise was written first, and the First Treatise, second, while there remains a possibility of a missing, third part. Challenging times for writers and freethinkers.
The First Treatise is devoted to refuting Sir Robert Filmer's defense of monarchy and patriarchalism, in which property, women, and children are subjects of a father, and the father's subjects of the King. This is all in line with Filmer's central argument, loosely based on Scriptural writings, that God created Adam and the world at his disposal, which makes Adam our first king and the sole proprietor of everything, and all rights can only be inherited through his lineage, namely through a male descendant.
However, in Locke's view, all men and women are born free and lived before the first established civil societies in accord with the laws of nature, in what John Locke (1632-1704) refers to as the State of Nature. Where by he believes that the only reason the people are to enter, by mutual consent, into a political community is to better preserve their liberty and secure their property as the property is insufficiently regulated in the State of Nature. Nevertheless, these Civil Societies should be in harmony with the natural rights enjoyed in the State of Nature. Locke goes on further to discuss the necessity of the separation of the legislative and executive powers, the people's rights to retain instruments to overthrow governments, and that an individual's "labor of his body and the work of his hands" are to remain in their possession.
Locke, a philosopher, and a physician began studying and writing about government and politics once he came under the influence of the first earl of Shaftesbury (Anthony Ashley Cooper).
Spinoza's and Descartes' impact on Locke's philosophy is evident but his philosophy remains original. A great book with a lengthy biographical introduction of John Locke who is today commonly known as the Father of Liberalism. Worth reading....more
"Nothing is more free than the imagination of man."
David Hume (1711-1776), a Scottish philosopher and a radical and uncompromising empiricist, discuss"Nothing is more free than the imagination of man."
David Hume (1711-1776), a Scottish philosopher and a radical and uncompromising empiricist, discusses epistemology in An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1748).
Hume's central argument is that knowledge cannot be attained through reasoning a priori and that ancient and modern philosophers are most guilty of this exaggerated claim. Instead, knowledge can only occur through experience and no conclusion can be drawn without the assistance of observation and experience through our senses, hence, nothing can be proved a priori.
Furthermore, Hume goes on to discuss how the experiences from our past can only act as suppositions for our future claims and that: "These records of wars, intrigues, factions, and revolutions, are so many collections of experiments, by which the politician or moral philosopher fixes the principles of his science."
A concise and comprehensible read that I enjoyed and a philosophy that entirely shifts us away from metaphysics. This edition also includes Letter from a Gentleman to His Friend in Edinburgh (1745) and An Abstract of A Treatise of Nature (1740)....more
The Theological-Political Treatise provides an in-depth critique of the Old and New Testament along with how reli"No book is ever free from faults..."
The Theological-Political Treatise provides an in-depth critique of the Old and New Testament along with how religion and the various system of governments have worked and function alongside each other.
I found Baruch Spinoza's (1632-1677) scrutiny of the Scriptures quite persuasive and brave for the time and setting in which they were written. Spinoza formulates bold arguments, such as, that it was a single historian Ezra who wrote the Torah and that faith is merely based on history and language derived from scriptures and revelations. Spinoza argues that the Prophets derived their claims from their vivid imagination, human's lowest level of cognitive development, and not reasoning, man's greatest cognitive gift. Spinoza contends that the human's power of reasoning is superior to any theological work: "The domain of reason, as we have said, is truth and wisdom, the domain of theology is piety and obedience". He equates God to nature as he sees the processes of nature and God as one, yet, "nobody knows by nature that he has any duty to obey God".
This was a captivating read. I enjoyed Spinoza's interpretation and examination of the Scripture language and his method of demonstrating how the various texts are contradicting and are opposed to reason or the laws of nature. Spinoza also elaborates on his support for a democratic secular state with each individual's right to freedom of expression. This edition comes with a well-written introduction (sometimes reading a great introduction to a non-fiction book feels like examining the topic of the book twice). All in all, I look forward to reading more from this Dutch (Jewish) philosopher....more
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